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Description
Workshop Summary:
This workshop presents best practices derived from the pilot of the Building Safer Communities Collaborative (BSCC)Program launched in 2025. The BSCC is a public health-driven, trauma-informed care (TIC) prevention strategy designed for youth aged 11–18 who are currently on informal probation as opposed to juvenile detention services.
Background:
The USA Health Center for Healthy Communities, in partnership with the Mobile County Juvenile Court System’s Strickland Youth Detention Center, launched the 6 month duration BSCC program with an initial cohort of 40 youth clients. Funded by the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA), the initiative employs a public health prevention framework using trauma-informed care approaches to foster positive outcomes for youth, their families, and their broader community environments.
Research indicates that justice-involved youth frequently carry histories of significant childhood adversity. Systematic gaps in the Social Determinants of Health (SDOH)—at both individual and familial levels—are primary drivers of behaviors that lead to justice system involvement. These gaps often restrict access to healthcare and essential societal supports, exacerbating the trauma of scarcity. This lack of support frequently manifests as incidences of interpersonal violence, diminished physical and mental health outcomes, and a lack of equitable resources for redressing lapses in judgement or building resilience to move forward positively beyond mistakes at a young age.
By leveraging the client-led Community Health Worker (CHW) delivery model, the BSCC integrates TIC approaches from initial intake through the program's six-month duration. Through structured screening, social and health coaching, and collaborative training for support professionals in the youth services ecosystem, the program has demonstrated several elements of measurable success in improving outcomes for youth, their families and their surrounding communities.
Publication Date
6-2026
Disciplines
Community Health and Preventive Medicine | Public Health
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Francis-Sheaerer, Antonette PhD; Singleton, Amber; and Shaw, Denise, "Homegrown Justice: Lessons from TraumaInformed Approaches to Improving lives of justicesystem impacted youth" (2026). Community Health Workers Posters. 3.
https://jagworks.southalabama.edu/chc-posters-commhealthwork/3
Comments
This workshop was conducted at the 2026 NABCJ National Conference and Training Institute July 26-30, 2026.
This project was supported by Grant No. 2024-SC-ST-471 awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a component of the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Office for Victims of Crime, and the SMART Office. Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.